York meetup – July 2017

On Monday I met some of my housemates for the first time! We’ve all been chatting over Facebook since being allocated the same accommodation at YSJ, so nine of us met up for a day in York. (We won’t all be sharing a house, but will be living in the same accommodation, as it’s sort of like a row of terrace houses).
To my delight, everyone is super lovely and it calmed my nerves about moving in. I am now so excited for September!
Early Monday morning I traveled to Wakefield to meet Lauren. She drove us to York. We parked at the YHA we were staying at and had a pleasant stroll along the river to York city centre to meet the others. In true English fashion, we met Clare, Holly, Daisy, Phillipa, Tony, Mónica (who is Spanish) and Thomas at Gregg’s.
We all introduced ourselves and had a pleasant stroll around the open market, the Shambles and the Disney store. I am in love with all the cute things in the Disney store!
We mooched outside the store for a while chatting and I got a really bad craving for ice cream so suggested it to the others. We got ice cream from an ice cream parlour and munched it on our way to everyone’s favourite cheap-and-cheerful pub-chain Wetherspoons.

We spent a few hours chatting in Spoons before heading to YSJ for a look around our accom. It looks really nice and I will be happy to call it home in September!
Following that, we strolled around York for a bit, stopping for a drink in a few pubs and buying snacks from a Sunday-roast take-away. At around 7, Clare, Lauren and I walked the others to the train station and had a big group-hug goodbye before nipping to Sainsbury’s for snacks and heading to YHA York. Strolling along York with a very tipsy Lauren was very funny, and it was great to spend time with just those two as I will be sharing a house with them come September.

After checking in, we went to the youth hostel bar for another drink and played a round of pool. We stayed up a while chatting and playing “Never Have I Ever”. Clare and I got ready for bed at around 11 but Lauren, self-proclaimed party-animals made mates downstairs and stayed up drinking til 3. Although she did hang out with us in the room for a little while which was really nice, Clare and I had to rely on each other for support as we started mortified as one another as a lady we’d been having a pleasant conversation with started taking her clothes off mid-conversation. (I’m all for body-positivity but nearly naked strangers isn’t my cup of tea, especially when they start undressing whilst having a chat with you.)
The bed was a lot comfier than I was expecting, and the Youth Hostel really exceeded my expectations as it was really good quality, which i wasn’t expecting given we’d only paid £13 each for the night. Drinks were cheap too which is always a bonus!
I woke up the following morning and got dressed as the other slept. We got ready and checked out, and the bartender informed us Lauren had been up til three but had stayed in the hostel as promised. (I made her promise to stay on site – I’m a killjoy only because I care haha).
We walked back along the river into York for breakfast. We had full English breakfasts (mine was veggie) at Bailey’s cafe, before going back down to sit by the river and chat.

Doesn’t Lauren look happy?
oh well at least Clare genuinely does

Bailey’s

Lauren and I saw Clare off at the train station before walking back to the car and driving home. She kindly dropped me off at my house. We will hopefully meet up again before September but they all seem really lovely.
I’m so glad everyone was so friendly and easy-going. It was great meeting Tony, a fellow enby, as well, as coming out to new people is always daunting and I sort of followed their lead as I wasn’t planning on telling the group but they did first and reacted well. Thank you Tony for letting me ride your coattails haha.

If everyone is as sweet as they seemed, uni will be awesome! I cannot wait for September!
Uni will be brilliant and I’m lucky to have met amazing people to share my experience with!
A x